August 10, 2010

Hey Marty...

Nothing important…Just wanted to congratulate you on the Rockaway Website….I follow it religiously…check it every couple of days and disappointed when I don’t find anything new…you’ve unearthed a treasure trove of stuff...

When I wrote my song in 1983 it was to try and express my feelings of profound loss…for many years I truly thought I was alone in my feelings about that place and time…Beginning with Skip’s site and now with yours, I have found it comforting to know that I’m part of a whole community that feels the same affection for the Far Rockaway of the 50’s and 60’s that I do....

The only really sad part is that this place we all remember and still know intimately exists only in cyberspace…

I’m living in Florida these last 9 years…and one of the reasons I moved down here was to reclaim my Rockaway birthright as a beach bum….I live within a couple of hundred yards of the ocean…sorta the same distance as Seagirt Blvd to the Boardwalk around B28th…How’s that for an analogy?..…and while the beaches around here are beautiful, it ain’t the same….

And as I’m getting older, and getting more and more into the Rockaway thing (because of you), I’ve been thinking about possibly moving to a Rockaway-ish type environment….Long Beach?....I’ve heard Ocean City Maryland has a definite Rockaway Feel….as does Wildwood on the South Jersey Shore…One of the shows ran in Key West for 5 weeks last year and I spent a lot of time there…I’d never been there before…it “felt” like a Rockaway, but without the boardwalk…and, oddly enough, without impressive beaches…Duval Street comes close to the boardwalk environment but it’s way too touristy…

I know I will never find “our” Rockaway again, but it could be fun to live out my life in an environment that is similar to where my life began…

Ben

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August 11, 2010

Hi, Ben,

No - Rockaway will never be the same as it once was. Paradoxically it may never have been as good as the idealized version we portray on the website, nor as ideal as the Utopia we remember from our own youth. Having said that, I, for one, continue to return back to the area seeking some hope and reassurance for its revitalization and its future.

I recently met in Far Rockaway with two people who currently work for an established and longstanding commercial enterprise - Frank's Auto School which is now located on the ground floor of one of the oldest structures still standing in the downtown area. You may have seen this place on the website in an informative article written by Stevie S. Stevens - regarding "some historic buildings on Mott Avenue." The house is also adjacent to the O'Kane Building. One of the employees (Yadira Maldonado) contacted me after she Googled the O'Kane Building and read about its fascinating history. The house is currently undergoing renovations and that sparked Yadira's interest. We spoke for almost two hours during which time I also managed to take a few photographs. I also had the opportunity to meet with a gentleman named Kevin Alexander who is the executive director of the Rockaway Development and Revitalization Corporation (RDRC). This group currently owns the O'Kane Building (which they purchased in 2005) and they are spending over $1.2 million to renovate in the hope of recruiting new tenants. The Far Rockaway Shopping Center directly across the street may also be getting a much-needed facelift in the very near future.

About two weeks ago, I attended a screening of "The Bungalows of Far Rockaway " - a viewing that took place at the Museum of the City of New York. It was the premiere of a great documentary produced by two women over a five-year period. Neither of these ladies have ever lived in the Rockaways so they brought a lot of fresh perspective to the project. They were smitten by the bungalows that continue to exist in the Rockaways and so decided to tell the story. The saga is a lot more than just those bungalows; it turned out to be more about a history of the Rockaways such as the working-class people who inhabited these early structures as well as the decline of the area and the horrible over development that took place with the high rise buildings being erected so close to the water's edge, destroying the character of the neighborhood. It concludes with some hope for the future thanks to certain organizations and individual "pioneers" who were instrumental in having zoning laws changed to protect the area from such over-zealous construction. They also stress the importance of protecting the natural environment of the Rockaways. Their show will "air" on PBS (Public Broadcasting System television) on this September 16th at 8:00 pm (edt).

I tell you all this so in the event you ever do decide to move back to Rockaway, you might also contribute to its renaissance and perhaps assist it in its flight to rise like a Phoenix from the ashes.

Marty Nislick

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August 11, 2010

Marty...

I'm not one of those who have idealized Rockaway beyond the point of reality....When I was 18-19..so this is '68-'69...I drove a cab part time on the overnight shift for the 7s when I was in College...I saw the alchoholism, gambling, the violence....

Rockaway had it's problems like any other town of the era...

But Rockaway as it existed in the 50's and 60's, especially the Far Rockaway/Edgemere/Bayswater area, had a charm that had taken over 70 years to develop...the confluence of it's being Part of the City and yet remote... the small town atmosphere coupled with the "carnival comes to town" summers contributed to this unique place that was wonderful to come of age in...

In the 50's and 60's the 101st precinct would add policemen for the summer months by taking cops from other precincts around the city...Cops would VOLUNTEER for that duty...

Much as I appreciate the drive to revitalize Rockaway that is hardly the point...

I came of age with the Subway a reality...I could commute to
Stuyvesant....I'm very aware that the coming of the subway, which I feel was responsible for the 10 years of expansion and really creating the final element that made rockaway this unique place in the 50's and 60's.., was also the instrument of Rockaways eventual destruction...

The Rockaway that exists now has very little in common with the Rockaway of my youth...yes some of the buildings are still there...but the beach area is gone....the Columbia Theatre is gone, the Strand had it's guts ripped out, Central Avenue is a disaster, Most of the landmarks that defined Rockaway for me no longer exist...

I don't doubt Rockaway will eventually be revitalized...but it won't be "Rockaway"....If I do decide to move to a beach area up north it would be to an area that did not abandon its past but rather built on it...

I remember in the mid 80's I was working in central jersey and went to spend an afternoon in Asbury Park....it was late spring...Asbury had some similarities to Rockaway, developed during a similar period...along similar lines...and was going through the same deterioration as Rockaway but perhaps 10 years behind it...

I remember I went into a place on the boardwalk called OLLIE'S...just a burger and hot dog joint....But the interiors had been put together during the same period as Jerry's hot dog and Burger place on 35th, where I worked for 2 summers in the mid 60's....I sat there in a booth with the same awful red vinyl covering, at the same table, looking out on the boardwalk and the ocean with a sea breeze wafting through the place and eating a burger andfries...This wave of nostalgia came over me...

I felt very much at home...I went back several more times that summer...

The last time I was in Rockaway was in September 2007....A few friends and I wanted to see the place...we drove around town...thru Bayswater, past the High school, through the streets I lived on...and ended up on the boardwalk at B 35th...

The whole experience was heartbreaking...walking along the boardwalk between 35th and 36th Streets I literally was seeing and hearing ghosts...

I decided I wouldn't be going back again..It's just too painful...

A couple of years ago, after Skip did that video to my song, I was contacted by one of the Producers of that Boardwalk Documentary...Jane or Jean Callahan?....We met one afternoon the next time I was in NYC and she gave mean early version of the doc to check out...Honestly I didn't care for it...Hopefully they improved it in the ensuing 2 years...

At this point in my life Marty I'm not a pioneer...It's the ambiance I'm looking for...I've sensed elements of that ambiance in various places over the years..most recently in Key West...I've been told Santa Cruz in California has a rockaway type ambiance...Venice beach, when I lived in LA
in the early 70's had that ambiance...I'd drive out to Venice every chance I had...Wildwood had that Ambiance...

My trip out to Rockaway in 2007 was the end for me...Some of the buildings might still be there...but the Rockaway ambiance I crave can no longer be found in Rockaway....

Ben